Many of us were deeply disappointed when Apple discontinued the MacBook Pro 17. While the Retina MacBook Pro 15 introduced at the same time offered higher resolution, sometimes there’s just no substitute for physical screen size. Photographers and videographers in particular loved the combination of the sheer size and the option of a matte screen.

I loved mine enough to immediately sell the three-year-old one I owned at the time in order to replace it with the last model made, to maximize its useful life. I still love it enough that I’ve just laid out a thousand bucks on a 2.5-year-old machine to fit 2TB of SSDs, giving it the best of both worlds: lightning-fast performance combined with huge storage that allows me to have all my files with me when I travel.

There may not be too many others who’ll follow my admittedly extravagant example, but I do think it’s time for Apple to revisit its decision and bring back the mobile professional’s workhorse …

I should say that I fully understand why Apple chose to discontinue the machine at the time. It had just introduced the shiny new Retina MacBook Pro machines in 13- and 15-inch sizes, and the cost of a 17-inch Retina screen would, at that time, have been prohibitive.

Retaining the non-Retina model would have been messy – where in the line-up do you position a machine which offers the largest screen size but not the highest resolution? Apple has always liked simple line-ups, not the mass of scarcely-distinguishable models put out by many PC manufacturers, so it took the easy way out and dropped the machine.

The argument many made at the time was that it was in any case a niche product, with some even suggesting that the MBP accounted for just one percent of MacBook sales. Given Apple’s famed secrecy when it comes to sales breakdowns, I strongly suspect that figure was made-up, but it’s undeniable that it was a product bought by a small minority of Apple’s customers.

Some went further and suggested that with Apple now a mass-market consumer company, the business market was less important to the company, and the subset of audio-visual professionals who made up most of the 17-inch machine’s user base was now effectively irrelevant.

That might have been a supportable argument at the time, but no longer. Defense exhibit A: the Mac Pro.

The Mac Pro is even more of a niche market than the MBP 17. The percentage of Apple’s customer base even interested in the machine, let alone prepared to lay out between $3,000 and $10,000 on one, is miniscule.

Yet Apple not only launched a new Mac Pro, but did so with a great deal of fanfare. It put a huge amount of R&D into a revolutionary new desktop PC design. It made a machine unlike any other.

Even today, almost a year after it was first announced, Apple still makes a huge fuss about it. Just visit apple.com and click on any of the other Macs there: Air, Pro, iMac, Mini, it doesn’t matter. You get Apple’s standard white background site.

Now click on the Mac Pro. Apple has sufficient pride in this special machine that it created a whole new site design for it.

Apple launched a new Mac Pro not because the market for the machine was a large one, but because it was an important one. The earliest and most loyal customer base for Macs comprised creative professionals. Graphic designers, photographers, videographers, musicians, writers. These were the people who acted as Apple’s unpaid evangelists in the very early days. It wouldn’t be too great an exaggeration to say that these people helped build the company into what it is today.

In creating the new Mac Pro, Apple demonstrated that its commitment to this market remains alive and well.

Which is precisely the argument for launching a new MacBook Pro 17 today. The machine appeals to a very similar (and in many cases overlapping) market: creative professionals who want a high-end machine with decent screen size when mobile.

While yield rates on a 17-inch Retina screen would have been impractically low in 2012, that’s no longer the case today. The niche demand is there. Apple’s demonstrated commitment to supporting a core niche market is there. The manufacturing practicality is there. It’s time.

And my machine demonstrates just how great it could be. With a 2.4GHz Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM and dual SSDs, the machine absolutely flies.

Upgrading the RAM was obviously trivial on the non-Retina machines, and something I did as soon as I bought it. I initially replaced the 750GB hard drive with two 1TB ones (one in the optical media bay with an OWC Data Doubler adapter), and have now replaced both chunks of spinning metal with shiny new Samsung EVO 840 SSDs.

2TB allows me to have all my files with me all the time no matter where I am in the world.

But that’s two-year-old technology. The SSDs, for example, are fast:

Coming from hard drives, I couldn’t be happier. But stick the latest quad-core i7 CPU in there and make the SSDs PCIe ones, and my machine would look like it was having trouble waking up in the morning.

And imagine the battery-life it would have with a Haswell processor and that massive battery! A MBP 17 with genuine all-day battery-life would be phenomenal.

So, please, Apple: let’s have an all-new MacBook Pro 17. I’d even forgive you announcing it a few days after I’ve laid out a grand on SSDs for mine …

Yes please!… A retina/4k resolution and a Nvidia Quadro and I’ll be happy.

As a graphic designer, and many of people working in the same area. We where very disappointing of the discontinued 17″. Me and several others have held on to ours 2009 MBP 17″, as of it still can handle all the software and run the latest OS without a problem.

I am stuck with a 3.5 year-old machine. I NEED 17″ screen for the type of work I do. I have been a faithful Apple customer for 25 years. I cannot believe I am stuck in this absolute debacle of bad business. I really don’t care how much a 17″ Apple machine costs. They need to offer one to professional customers.

Great article. I’ve been holding out for a new 17″ for about 3 years now. I still use my old 17″ 2.4GHz Santa Rosa from 2007 with an SSD and 2nd HD (which was my 3rd 17″). It works fine but only having 4GB of RAM is getting very long in the tooth. I definitely need the extra screen real estate that comes with a 17″. My stock trading platform adjusts dynamically, so I’m able to have many more charts on there vs. a 15″. A 17″ is also very helpful since I’m always multitasking and need to have a lot of different windows open at the same time.

YES!! I currently own a 2010 MacBook Pro 17″ and love it. It has a matte screen, an i7 processor and 8GB of RAM, with Mavericks installed. When the time comes for me to upgrade it, I want to be able to get another 17″ MBP and not a 15″. The extra screen real estate is vital to me when I’m traveling. I’m a graphic designer, so the more screen I have, the better off I am, especially for print design work. When in my office I use both a 20″ and 30″ Cinema Displays, so even the 17″ screen seems tiny when I can’t use them. I hope Apple will eventually re-introduce the 17″ MBP (with a matte option). It took Apple several years to finally add anti-glare coatings to the iMac to get rid of 75% of the reflection, so it may be a while for them to get around to the 17″. Actually as I think about it, they could forget the 17″ and jump right up to a 19″ MacBook Pro. The physical size would only increase to 17″ x 11.5″ (approx) from the current 15.5″ x 10.5″, and I’d buy one in a heartbeat. Apple’s current technology would mean it would probably even be lighter, or about the same weight of the current model. Make mine a 17″ or a 19″ and I’ll take it with me everywhere!

I’m also waiting for a new large screen MBP. Replaced the hard disk for an SSD drive on my early 2011 machine, it has really transformed the performance. I have no reason to buy a smaller screened device until this one dies. I understand why many prefer to purchase a smaller/lighter machine but the screen real estate is really useful. This is my second 17 inch beast, ideally I won’t have to down size if this one dies or ceases to be useful anymore.

A simple yes will not work, sure I want it back the awsume 17″ mbp.
But what I love about this machine is 2 HD your self to replace by upgrades.
My configuration is the latest mbp17″ early 2011 with 2 1tb SSD mounted.
Till today this 2th gen. 7i is not to be beaten by other hardware. My biggest problem is when it dies, what then? Where can I find a replacement for this 3 year old beast.
APPLE GET THE 17″ please back with all the good features a PRO needs.
The thing that comes close is a X•BOOK 17M59 – GTX860 this machine can handle 1 SSD and 2 msata.
It sound illegal but I am pressed against the wall and will find out if it can become a Hackintosh.
APPLE stop me and get that 17″ retina out for the Pro’s amongst us.

Great post! We definitely need the new 17 inch workhorse. I think the matte coating of the current 17 inch MBP is fantastic – one of the best screens I have seen. As to get more power I have looked for rMBP, but the screen has horrible glare and the sharpness does not give you any additional screen real estate. I think there is a huge cluster of professionals waiting for the new 17 inch model to update their current system – mine is alredy 4 years old and counting…

I have an old 2007 MBP 17″ that needed fixing due to a Graphic Card failure, so when I heard the 17″ Inch model was going to be discontinued in 2011, I went for the highest spec MBP17 with antiglare and Maxed the RAM to 16GB and 1TB HD.Best Investment.
I still hope Apple comes up with a revamped MBP17 when this one dies. The Old MBP2007 still works like a champ with a 1TB drive and 6GB RAM after getting it fixed. To me the MBP17 is the Best Personal Computer ever made.

A big screen is a must have for the garment industry. I never thought I would even contemplate purchasing a non-Mac (I’ve been working on them since 1992) but I need the “real estate”. The cute children working in the Apple stores say, “you can hook it up to one of our great displays”. That doesn’t help on the road, working with customers, or when I am simply too tired to sit at a monitor! I was with Apple when graphic professionals of various types were their earliest loyal customers, and now I am rewarded with the absence of a vital tool! I’m feeling a bit “discontinued” as a customer. Thanks, Apple. (Hey Steve – you watchin’ all this?!)

Right there with you. I just dropped off my 17″ 2011 Matte with SSDs for a Flat Rate repair of the all too common discrete graphics failure. I had to put the Optical Drive back for them to take it. If they offered a new 17 inch with matte display, then I might have upgraded. I won’t buy a reflective screen 15″ I’ll keep waiting…

Apple “needs” to bring back the 17 inch MacBook Pro ASAP. I would buy 3 of them. I need the screen real estate and yes I could use them with retina screens. If they made it closer to an 18 inch screen that would be even better. I love the fact that I can take it anywhere and have screen space for all of my applications. Please Apple my current 17 in models could use upgrades. If you don’t think it would sell a lot, think again. I personally would buy 3 and I know 3 others that would buy one. The current 15 inch retina isn’t the same.

I bought my first Apple anything, a 17″ Mac Book Pro, five years ago and never looked back until they pulled the plug on the 17″ MBP. I have always opted for more screen real estate and the older I get the more important that becomes as the screen needs to be easier to read. I gave that five year old MBP to my wife and bought another in 2011. She definitely has trouble reading small print; so, she has to make the fonts larger to read them. My first laptop had a 320 horizontal pixel screen, it was usable but what a pain that was. These smaller screens help make the machines lighter, more portable, with longer battery life. There are many ways to display a lot of information but nothing beats having the real estate to have it in front of you. I certainly hope Apple does something about this before the time comes to replace this laptop. I still have a Windows desktop and was considering replacing that with a Mac Pro. I really don’t want to go back to Windows.

Same here. I have a 15 in retina for work and here I am using my 17 in. It just allows me to run two apps at once and the screen allows so much more of what I do – more workspace, less toolbars, etc….PLEASE APPLE MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Just put in a Samsung EVO 840 mSata 1TB drive using a SATA adapter (And noticed there is also an adapter for 2 x mSata on one 2.5 SATA). Brought new life to my old MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010). I refuse to upgrade to a smaller screen. Apple needs to bring back the 17inch.. I dont need retina.. but I do need the bigger screen.

I love my 17-inch MBP and the only MBP I will buy is another 17-inch. The only complaint I ever heard was that it’s heavier – but now that we have the Airs, a 17-inch Air would fly off the shelves for mobile professional, especially creative pros and developers, who can always utilize more screen real estate for their work. It would be a smart move for Apple indeed to re-release it.

Last year I broke down and bought my forth 17″ Apple notebook. It was a used 2011 17″ Macbook Pro to replace my aging 17″ MBP from 2007. With 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, it was a well needed upgrade, and it will tie me over until Apple hopefully comes to their senses and release a new one. However, now that Apple Care has run out, I live in constant fear that something will happen to it. Apple, please bring back the 17″! A 15″ display is not a replacement for a 17″! With today’s technology you could make it so light and slim that it wouldn’t even resemble the old 17″ Macbook Pro’s and Powerbooks of the past. The weight was the only drawback of these wonderful machines. Now is the right time to bring them back!

How I long to have another 17″ MBP. It was a tank and the first apple product I ever bought. It went to laptop heaven last month after my wife threw it at me. Italian women….. I’m still holding off on buying anything else for a few more months just in case apple comes back to their senses and wants to keep user like me happy. 15″ is just too small for an old guy like me to play my games and multiple apps on the same screen.

I used to upgrade my Macbook Pro every 1,5 year. Now I own the latest 17″ for over… what is it… four years or so? SSD instead of optical, maxed out RAM etc. Because I just don’t like to ‘upgrade’ to a smaller screen. Retina would come in handy though, Yosemite looks horrible on non-retina displays, and my clients have higher resolution screens than I have. Looking at Apple’s record-breaking profit of the last quarter and their revenue for mac sales also increasing substantially, there’s no reason to leave longtime pro users who like to be mobile out in the cold.

Just managed to upgrade my Early 2011 17″ with a 2T hard drive and 16G of RAM – replacing my full 1T HD & 8G ram…. am soooo happy! Was sick about being out of warranty with a nearly full HD. An external drive would defeat the whole purpose.

I like you used to upgrade every 2-3 years as well. The difference is that I have always had hi-res monitors on mine – even on my 17″ non – intel MacBook Pro that is still going strong for my non intel apps. Why not add a Hi-Res monitor to yours – they did make them – would think you would be able to find one.

Absolute need for a 17 inch Macbook Pro for photos and video! My workhorse is still the 17 inch Macbook Pro late 2009. The 15 inch is far too small for photo sorting and editing.
I love the idea of the 5K iMac, but unfortunately it isn’t portable and I can’t do photo work on location or on the go with it – which accounts for over 75% of my work.
Hopefully Apple will listen to our needs and make another one. I might have to switch to the Dell M3800 upgrade instead this year, which I would hate to do, but if there is not 17 inch Macbook Pro this year – I will have to.

I think you mean the Dell M6800. I’m in the same “boat” you are, and considering the same change. I’m very frustrated with Apple this time around. (Particularly seeing as I’ve had to replace the logic board at my cost ($644 each) in my Late 2011 MBP 17″ twice in the past 14 months.)

They’ve completely left “the professionals” out in the cold, and have been focusing solely on consumers.

I’ve been holding off for the rumored Broadwell-based (Intel 5th gen) M6900 that’ll hopefully arrive later this spring. But now my H, J, & K keys have stopped working, so I have to use an external keyboard. There’s no way I’m taking this back to the Apple store *again*. I’ve paid enough Apple Tax for a lifetime….